A few days ago the ABA announced the 2017 Bird of the Year as the Ruddy Turnstone and I couldn't be any happier because shorebirds were my "spark" birds that propelled me into the world of bird photography.
I kept this photo of the Reddish Egret with the surprise curlew in the background not because it is a great image but to remind myself to look beyond the subject in front of me.
Whenever I view this photo of a lone Black Skimmer in flight on a foggy Gulf shore I feel a wave of joy and peaceful feelings wash over me.
I feel worried for the future and I am filled with angst right now and I know I am not alone. However; I do know that even when times are difficult life is good. The sun rises after every sunset.
I photographed this Green Heron at Sawgrass Lake Park in Pinellas County, Florida with my first DSLR, a Nikon D70, when I was just getting into bird photography.
For most of the year Ring-billed and California Gulls are some of the most common gulls here in northern Utah and for some people it might be challenging to tell them apart.
The Great Blue Herons here in Utah are dealing with ice, snow and bitter cold temperatures now but the Great Blue Herons in Florida they have started courting and building their nests.
On a hazy, windy day in May of 2008 I was able to sand crawl on my belly close enough to some Black Skimmers to watch and photograph them courting.
I must admit I get a little bonkers though when I see images of birds where the name posted for the species in the photo is incorrect, for instance, it is Tricolored Heron not Tri-colored Heron.
I photographed this juvenile Roseate Spoonbill in May of 2008 from inside a lagoon at Fort De Soto's north while the immature spoonbill and a few adults preened and rested on the shoreline.
Today I am celebrating having published 2000 posts on birds, wildlife and nature at On The Wing Photography and sharing the stories behind the images along with the journeys I take to find my subjects.
Of the images I took that day on the beach, and there were tons of them, this image of a Laughing Gull sliding across the water as it chased a fish in the shallow waves was one of my favorites.
When I lived in Florida one of my great joys was to be at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach before the sun rose over the horizon and to be there even before the first bit of color touched the clouds.
I was able to lock on to the Herring Gull in flight with a sea urchin in its bill when it was close enough to me to fill the frame, it was almost too close at that point.
The Great Egret struggled to swallow the large fish and even though it readjusted the fish in its bill several times it never swallowed the fish before it dropped it into the lagoon and flew off.
I'll be out photographing birds like this Willet foraging in the Gulf of Mexico, other wildlife and the beauty of nature.
It was wonderful to be close to the juvenile Brown Pelican and to be able to take portraits of it plus I also enjoyed being able to see all the fine details of its plumage, the texture of its bill and look into its dark eyes.
I've always loved this image of a Forster's Tern in flight because the pose is wonderful and the tern looks elegant against the gray of a distant storm cloud.
I photographed this Red-breasted Merganser floating on the Gulf of Mexico on an April morning from the shoreline at Fort De Soto, Florida in April of 2008.
When I lived in Florida there were times that I would see Wood Storks at Fort De Soto and once in a while I would get lucky and find them in flight.
Vultures and condors are scavengers and help to clean up the environment by consuming carrion, road kill and gut piles left from the kills of human and non-human hunters.
I did see and photograph this adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron standing on a grassy sand dune overlooking the Gulf of Mexico in beautiful, soft light.
I photographed this white morph Reddish Egret hunting in the Gulf of Mexico in June of 2008 and truly enjoyed observing its hunting behavior through my lens.
While walking the boardwalk at the small rookery I was able to get close to this Great Egret that was resting under the canopy of a large tree and took this portrait of it.
One a fall day at Fort De Soto I was able to photograph this Black-bellied Plover on a foggy morning up close on the beach.
This sleeping Willet image remains one of my favorite images because it was so comfortable in my presence that it fell asleep.
When I lived in Florida I was able to see and photograph juvenile Royal Terns on the Gulf Coast were they could be seen along the shoreline and they were usually begging the adults for food.
These four birds, an American Oystercatcher, a Greater Sage-Grouse, a Reddish Egret and a Mountain Plover are all facing the risk of extinction without serious conservation measures to reduce declines in populations and habitat destruction.
This Great Blue Heron was in flight over the north beach of Fort De Soto with dark Australian Pines in the background on a foggy morning.
Last night I spent some time dreaming of oystercatchers. I could hear them in my dream and see them scurrying along the waves.